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Did these filmmakers have any idea how twisted a picture they were making? It doesn’t matter because this Italo torture orgy has has remained a freakout favorite ever since. Mickey Hargitay likely asked, ‘do you really want me to act this nuts?’ and then fully complied with Massimo Pupillo’s request to burn, stab, choke and roast his mostly female victims in orgasmic glee. It’s all still more than a little disturbing — or screamingly funny depending on one’s orientation. Severin’s Blu-ray sources original printing elements, lending incredible video and audio quality to this artless yet stunning exercise in sex & death insanity. We also recall an interpretation given this gem by Brit film critics. Co-starring Walter Brandi & Luisa Barrato, plus eight willing special guest torture victims.

Bloody Pit of Horror

Blu-ray

Severin Films

1965 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 87 min. / Street Date November 26, 2021 / Il boia scarlatto, The Crimson Executioner / Available...

Renato Polselli’s vampire rally ups the on-screen babe count first and provides horror thrills second, yet Ernesto Gastaldi’s screenplay introduces an interesting wrinkle or two to the bloodsucking genre. This new bilingual release is a good presentation of what for American chiller fans has been a long-absent title.

The Vampire and the Ballerina

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1960 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 85 min. / L’amante del vampiro / Street Date May 22, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 27.99

Starring: Walter Brandi, Hélène Rémy, Tina Gloriani, María Luisa Rolando, Isarco Ravaioli, Gino Turini (John Turner), Pier Ugo Gragnani.

Cinematography: Angelo Baistrocchi

Film Editor: Renato Cinquini

Assistant Director: Ernesto Gastaldi

Original Music: Aldo Piga

Written by Ernesto Gastaldi, Giuseppe Pellegrini, Renato Polselli

Produced by Bruno Bolognese

Directed by Renato Polselli

We’re told that all of Europe jumped on a horror bandwagon with the success of the first two Technicolor Hammer gothic films, but it took...

Trailers From Hell welcomes all movies great and small but sometimes a particular trailer may not be up to the visual quality of the rest of our catalog or is simply too oddball to present in our usual format. Nevertheless, there’s such a wealth of exciting, strange and unusual films out there, we’d be remiss not to call attention to them. We’re happy to present the Tfh Misfits.

The Vampire and the Ballerina (L’amante del vampiro) was the second in an unofficial Italian trilogy pairing up a licentious bloodsucker with a sexy dance troupe. The titular star of Vampire and the Ballerina, Walter Brandi, also appeared in the first of these sex/horror outings, The Playgirls and the Vampire. The Monster of the Opera (directed by Ballerina‘s helmer, Renato Poselli) was the third in this shortlived series.

And if you can’t get enough of these sexy vampire shenanigans,...

Here we are again with another installment of Everyone's A Critic, the feature that puts You in the reviewers seat right on the front page of Fangoria.com.

This time we feature Richard A. Ekstedt and his take on a classic Italian vampire film presented by Dark Sky Films, Slaughter Of The Vampires.  If you dig Hammer, A.I. and Amicus, then read on and discover a truly underrated gem...

I've always had a special fondness for this film. The last time I saw it on commercial television was near the end of the 1960's around Thanksgiving while visiting my late Aunt Cheta's house in upstate New York, playing on the old Wor Channel 9. It was very late at night and my Aunt got up and found me watching this old black and white film, and sat down to view it with me. When she saw the rather top-heavy actress Graziella Granata,...